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Sunday

Caregiving - There's An App For That

Back in the day, you might ask a neighbor if they could check in on your elderly mother, if for some reason you could not make it that day. Since that seems to be a largely foreign concept to most of us these days, you might need or want to use a caregiver provided by a service.

Care.com functions similarly to Uber and AirBNB, in that it acts as an agency, connecting people with needs to people in the marketplace offering services.

Since the other two have had their share of horror stories in their young histories, Care.com is very aware of what they are trying to do and the need to do it as responsibly as possible. Even so, Care CEO Sheila Marcelo's recent statement at a PandoMonthly event sounds a bit like "caveat emptor" (let the buyer beware).

“We have to feel comfortable that we can hire on the service for our own
children — that’s the bar,” Marcelo said. “So whether that’s child
care, senior care, tutoring… I’ve used the service for a lot of
different things, and it’s something we need to feel good about. And so
our safety features we encourage, but the fact that we provide it at a
significant discount from what other agencies or other people offer… you
can hire, for about $300, a private investigator to go fully research a
caregiver. And we encourage families, if you can afford it, you should
go do that.